The Cat's return
by CrazyDuck5280
Summary: Julie returns home after the games. Sequel to 'Friend in need'


The Cat's return

As soon as she was on the plane, Julie was showed her way to her seat by a black woman who recognized her immediately.

"Congratulation for the medal, Miss Gaffney. I was at the Arena and it was a great match you and the others played." The woman said with a smile,

"It was a hard one." Julie smiled back, although she was a bit tired. She hadn't slept too much that night, and from what she saw, most of the others didn't either,

"Call me if you need anything." The attendant said before she went to help other people.

After placing her bag and the duck on the little compartment over her seat, Julie took a pictures' album, Tibbles gave several of them to each duck with all of their pictures: there were from the Hotel, the games, the practices, the classes and the Camping Trip. She had separated the pictures about each Duck she was with and had 2 saved for 2 special Ducks: Charlie and Connie.

Although she had become friends with all of the Ducks, those 2 were the more important as both had been at her side during the hardest moments: her Grandfather's death and also supported her when she complained about not playing.

"You'll have your chance, Julie. I don't know when, but I'm sure it will be a big one." The Captain had told her one day.

"You were right, Charlie. I had the biggest chance of all." Julie muttered to herself seeing the picture that both of them shared during the Camping and that had been taken by Connie.

As the rest of the passengers went on taking their seats, Julie continued watching the Pictures and remembering the players and the moment when it was taken. She laughed with several.

"Excuse me." Someone near her said and making Julie turn her attention from the album and turned to see an old woman.

"Yes?" The goalie asked putting the album aside.

"Are you Julie Gaffney?" The woman asked unsure of it.

"I am." Julie said with a smile. She looked familiar for some reason.

"Perhaps you won't remember me: I'm Jill Miller." The woman said with a smile.

"Mrs. Miller? Oh My God!" Julie exclaimed recognizing her Kindergarten teacher and hugging her. She had been one of her favorite teacher and was also a great friend of her Grandmother. She hadn't seen her since her death, 3 years ago.

"You've grown up, Julie." Jill said hugging her back.

"It's been a while." Julie said before she saw her Husband and a child that she thought to be her granddaughter.

"I told you I knew her, sweetie." Jill said to the girl who looked at the blond with wide eyes, while Julie hugged her husband.

"We heard about Mark." Mr. Miller had been a very good friend of her grandfather too.

"I didn't go home. Some of his relatives are not good company," Julie said with an ironic smile. The man laughed and nodded in agreement.

"You are going back to home, I guess." Jill said as she and her husband sat in the row in front of Julie's and the girl sat next to her after the goalie invited her,

"Yes, we went on a camping trip that finished yesterday and now it's time to deal with my family." Julie said with a shrug.

"Problems?" The girl asked curiously.

"With one of my teammates, we played a joke to them and said we had practiced the Kama Sutra. I'm sure they are a bit pissed off with me about that." Julie said with a smile as she remembered it.

"Aren't you a bit young to do that?" Jill asked sternly, as her husband tried to hold a laugh.

"It was revenge against Katie, actually." The goalie said before she explained what had happened that day.

"I can imagine your dad's face when you hung." Mr. Miller laughed as the plane took off.

The girl asked innocently: "What's the Kama Sutra, Grandma?"

"You haven't changed, Miss Gaffney: You are still a VERY bad influence in little kids." Jill lectured her former student, who laughed.

"What can I say? I grew up with Alex and Katie." Julie said with a smile.

"It's a book for grown ups. Kim" Mr. Miller said to his granddaughter who looked curious about what was it,

They spent a couple of hours talking, with Kim asking a lot of questions about the other Ducks and Julie showed her the album and told her who was each of them.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Kim asked when she noticed that one of the Albums was only for Charlie.

"He's a very good friend who helped me when I had some problems." Julie said with a smile and noticed that the little girl was getting tired,

"Grandma, where is my teddy?" Kim asked starting to fall asleep.

"You put it in one of her bags." Mr. Miller said to hi wife who realized that the bear was with rest of the luggage.

"If you want I can lend you mine." Julie said to Kim who nodded and the goalie picked her duck. She gave it to the girl and explained her: "This is a gift that we got for winning. I was said that they help little girls to sleep, want to try it?"

Kim nodded and hugged the duck. Not more than 5 minutes later, she was asleep sucking her thumb.

"Can you wake me before we land? I need some sleep too." Julie asked Jill, who nodded and promised to wake her. Julie turned her disc-man and soon was also sleeping.

When the black attendant passed near the 2 girls, Jill asked her some blankets and covered them before turning to talk to her husband.

….

"Julie, sweetie, it's time to wake." The goalie heard someone telling her as she was shaken lightly. She opened her eyes and saw Mrs. Miller.

"We'll land in 15 minutes." The old woman informed her, before she woke Kim.

"Did it help you to sleep?" Julie asked the little girl who smiled broadly and gave it back to her,

They went on talking while the plane landed and soon the 4 were getting their stuff and were ready to leave the plane.

"Miss Gaffney, can I ask you a favor?" The attendant asked Julie before she left. When Julie nodded she explained, giving her a piece of paper and a pen: "Can you sign an autograph for my son? He's a great fan of you."

"What's his name?" She asked with a smile and taking both things.

"Nick." The woman said as Julie signed it: 'To Nick with Love, Julie 'The Cat' Gaffney'. The woman pocketed it and thanked her as the goalie left and went to find her family.

….

At the gate, her parents and siblings were waiting with a sign that said: 'Welcome back home, Champion'. She smiled and ran to them and hugged her parents first with a broad smile.

"I missed you." Julie told her mom, before she hugged the others and her parents spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Miller.

"It's beautiful!" Olivia exclaimed when she saw the duck and asked her sister: "Can I have it?"

"I have one for you, Oli." The Goalie said hugging and picking her in arms.

"You are not angry with me, are you?" Katie asked her sister with a smile.

"Ask my teammates about that. They heard me cursing your name and plotting my revenge during the whole camping trip." Julie sneered before she hugged Alex and Mary, who laughed at Katie's face. Her revenges were the worst of all the ones that the 4 siblings could do!

"Watch yourself. Dad's still angry with your little joke." Alex warned her in a whisper that made her wince.

"I know, but it was funny and you surely had a good laugh too." Julie whispered back to her oldest brother, who nodded laughing.

"Hey, I missed you!" Mary said hugging her tightly.

"Come on, let's go home. You must be tired." Andrea told her daughter, before some kids recognized Julie and ran to them asking autographs and pictures with her. The Goalie smiled and spent almost an hour doing so before they went to the van, where she fell asleep as soon as she sat on her seat.

Once they arrived home, her brother picked her up and took her to her bed, without Julie even noticing it or her mother changing her clothes.

….

The next morning she woke up on her room, being licked on her face by her dog, Minnie. She was of unidentified race and Julie found her as cub one day when she returned from a practice and kept her. Since then, she had slept at her room every night and never left her spot on her feet.

"I missed you too, Minnie." The girl said petting her dog, which waved her tail happily to see her back.

After a quick shower, she changed clothes and went to the kitchen to eat something. There she found her mom, Mary and Olivia seeing her pictures and commenting them. Obviously they had opened her bags to see what was inside, and Olivia now had her duck with her.

"Who's the guy that slept with her?" Andrea asked not seeing Charlie at any of them.

"He's the one that has an album only for him." Julie said before she kissed the 3 and her mom brought her some breakfast.

"A special guy eh?" Mary asked with a smile, opening the album and seeing him.

"He's the one that gave his shoulder to cry on, Mary. Of course, he's special for me." Julie said with a smile as she showed them more pictures and explained who each of them was.

"Who gave you that Duck? Olivia fell in love with it!" Andrea asked her daughter as she started to eat and she went on seeing more of the pictures.

"Jan gave them as a gift for winning the games." Julie said before she started to look a picture where Connie's was and showed it and explained: "The original Ducks got this one when they won the Pee-Wee. So Jan kept the tradition and gave us this one."

"It's really nice." Mary commented as Olivia asked if she could get one of those too.

"Not that one." Julie shook her head before she informed her baby sister: "Of all the teddies on my bags, you can have all of them except a black bear. That's a special gift that one of my teammates bought me and I won't share it with ANYONE."

"Ok." Olivia nodded, knowing that when Julie said that something was only for her, it meant that it was out of bonds for her or anyone else.

"Olivia, ask Julie that question that you wanted mum to answer you." Mary said with a smile to her baby sister, before she sneered to the goalie.

"What's the Kama Sutra?" Olivia asked with innocence, before Julie choked and started to cough hard as her sister and mum laughed.

"It's a book that is read by gown ups, Oli." Julie said before she kicked Mary's leg and mouthed her: "I hate you."

"Consider yourself lucky that you weren't here with your father after that little joke of yours." Andrea lectured her daughter.

"So I am the bad girl for that joke, but Mary is the innocent after what she did?" Julie asked her with an accusing look.

"I won't enter in that game!" Andrea said, knowing too well that Julie got her genes for argue.

"She's the one that will bring the next generation, Kitty, so don't bother." Mary said with a sneer.

"It's not fair!" Julie said with a mock pout.

"Life is not fair." Andrea said as all answer, before they went on seeing pictures.

….

Julie was busy in her room ordering all the things she bought during the games, when her mom entered at her room with an envelope. The girl arched an eyebrow and Andrea showed it: it said 'For Julie'. It was written in her grandfather's handwriting.

"Let's go to the library. I need to talk to you." Andrea said seriously as Julie tried not to cry seeing the envelope. The girl nodded and followed her, crutching the envelope on her hands.

Once inside and after she closed the door, Andrea asked her daughter to sit and started to speak:

"About six months ago, the doctors found that he had some heart illness, but the prognosis wasn't good. Even with surgery, his lifetime wouldn't be longer than a year or two." Then she added before Julie could say something: "He told me about it a couple of weeks before he died. He wanted me to make his last will and make sure that his wishes were followed as he asked."

"I can imagine why." Julie said with a snort. Her grandfather had a lot of money and too many relatives that would fight for it. But she knew that he had left some money for her and her siblings in an account that could only be touched after they turned of age. For what she knew, Alex had used some of that money to open the shop.

"Don't worry about the money he left for you and the others. They weren't mentioned in the will to make sure no one knew how much he had left." Andrea said before she elaborated seeing her arched eyebrow: "He left the 4 of you more money on them that to the rest of your cousins. And as his lawyer, I can't reveal the numbers."

"What will happen with Mary's?" Julie asked understanding why she said 4 and not 5.

"Both of them talked and plotted something. And I learnt too long ago to not ask questions when he and any of you plotted something!" Andrea said very seriously, while Julie laughed. Then she stopped and turned serious.

"Did I do wrong not coming?" The goalie asked the questions that had assaulted her since her decision.

"I won't deny that I'd have loved to have you with us, but considering what happened after the funeral, it was the best thing." Andrea said with a heavy sigh.

"What happened and how bad was it?" Julie asked knowing that some of his cousins could create a lot of problems.

During her grandmother's wake, they had made several comments that made her angry. Only Alex, Mike and Nick, who was Katie's boyfriend in that time, kept her in bay. But some comments had made her lose her temper and not even the 3 guys together were able to stop her assault against her family.

That was when her Grandfather stood and took her outside alone. Only with him, she broke down and cried all the tears that she had held for days since her grandmother was taken to the ICU almost a week earlier. Neither of them ever mentioned what had happened or what they had talked that day. And her cousins and some of her other relatives avoided her as the plague.

"Mary and Katie made look your outburst like one of Olivia's tantrums." Andrea said very seriously.

Although Julie had the worst temper and was the one that showed it more often, her other kids when angry, could rival hers. And Alex had made it clear during the wake, that he would stop none of his siblings that time.

"If any of them is stupid enough to provoke them or me, don't expect that I'll be quiet. I held my tongue during Grandma's funeral only for respect to Grandpa. I won't do it this time." Her oldest son had told her and her husband very seriously.

Not all the members of the family accepted his gay relationship and even her father-in-law had problems doing so. But Mark NEVER stopped loving his oldest grandson and tried to act civil with Mike all the times that they were in the same place.

And recently she had found out that Mark had bought the place that both used as store and had bought all the things they had used to open it. Then he sold it to his Grandson for one dollar. That's all the money that Alex had to spend to have his Hockey store and he never failed his Grandfather with it.

"I wasn't sure that if I had done the right thing, but I knew that this time I couldn't hold myself. I stayed there to respect Grandpa's memory." Julie explained her mom, drying some tears.

"He didn't want you to leave the Games to come. He told me that you had to make the choice on that. Neither me nor you dad had to force you on that matter." Andrea explained patting her back and hugging her daughter.

"The letter?" Julie asked once she had calmed down.

"He talked with Alex, Katie and Mary and told them the situation. Also he wanted to set some things. And neither of them said what those things were." Her mom said before she went on: "He wrote 2 letters: one for you and the other for Olivia. He asked to give them when both were ready to read them. Whenever you feel up to it, tell me and I'll give it to you."

"How has Oli reacted to this?" Julie asked concerned. Her Grandfather had spent a lot of time with her baby sister, as he had done it with her and the others while they grew up.

"She's having problems: her teacher called me twice for behavior problems at the kinder, cries a lot, started to wet the bed again and almost every night, she ends up in your bed with Minnie." Andrea informed her daughter.

Julie nodded understanding what she meant: her sister would spend the night with her very often now that she was back. Since she started to walk, any night that she had a bad dream or couldn't sleep, Olivia went to Julie's room and finished sleeping next to her and Minnie, She only calmed down there with her.

"Now I have some bad news." Andrea said turning serious and Julie got ready for the worst.

"First: I'll take you to the doctor to teach you what you need to know about the Kama Sutra." The woman started to speak: "And let me tell you that your father is demanding to know if you are a virgin. So I'll RECOMMEND you to not ever try to protest."

"Yes, Mom." Julie said with a smile. She knew that her father would be furious with her, but hell she and Charlie had had a really good laugh that day and she didn't regret it.

"Are you…?" Andrea started to ask, before she had to cover her ears with Julie's shout.

"OF COURSE I'M VIRGIN! DO YOU THINK I'M KATIE?" The goalie said with her highest volume of voice and putting her face very close to her mother's.

"I just had to make sure." Her mother said with her ears still ringing because of her shout.

"Once I play a joke and everyone believes that I go to bed with anyone!" Julie exclaimed angrily.

"I have more news." Andrea started, choosing to not answer her daughter knowing they would end up in an argument and that Julie was really hard to beat on them.

"Let me guess: I have no team anymore." Julie said with a snort and getting a nod as confirmation.

"How did you know it?" Her father asked entering in that moment and hearing her.

"Someone removed all the pictures of the team and the posters from my room. You don't have to be a genius to figure it out." Julie said before she hugged him. After all they had barely seen each other the previous night when she arrived,

"That was Alex." Her father said before he informed that they go out for dinner and they had to be ready.

….

The whole family went to a restaurant her parents said hi to several of the other diners, who were some of their clients or friends. Julie smiled to them but didn't make a move to do the same. She hated the times when they went to have dinner and it became an occasion for business for them.

So while they talked to the other adults, she and her siblings checked the card deciding what to eat and talked with each other about what had happened during her absence.

While Alex was updating her about the shop, he heard a couple of kids that looked like 7 or 8 years old pointing to her and whispering to each other.

"It's her! I'm sure!" The girl told her brother who looked not very sure of it.

"The price of the fame, little kitty." Alex said laughing, having heard them too.

"Who do you think I am?" Julie asked both kids turning to see them.

"Julie Gaffney!" Both kids exclaimed, before their parents asked them to not disturb her and apologized for their behavior.

"Give me a pen, Dad. I know you have one even when you go to the bathroom." Julie ordered her father, adding the last part before he could say that he didn't have one with him. Her siblings laughed seeing him blushing quite red while he accomplished the request/order from his daughter, while his wife that tried very hard tried to suppress a smile.

"What are your names?" Julie asked the kids taking some papers and ready to sign the autographs. If it was an adult who asked it, she might have denied it, but she would never say no to a child.

"I'm Jenny and he's Steve." The girl said with a bright smiled as Julie dedicated an autograph for each and they returned to their tables with them as if it was a treasure.

"Do you want me to remind you 2 how many dinners were stopped because you started to make business in a restaurant?" Julie asked her parents before they could say something against what she had done.

"Jules, you have future as lawyer. If you become one, whenever I need one, I'll always call you!" Alex said laughing while his parents tried to find an argument against her words.

"Where's Mike?" Julie asked her brother.

"His mom was taken to the Hospital and had to go home for a few days." Alex explained. His family considered his boyfriend as part of the family and he would have been with them if he was at the city. He was also considered part of Mike's family and hoped that the old woman recovered quickly.

"Who had the idea of the joke?" Katie asked suddenly to her sister, as they wanted to hear the whole story.

"When I got your message, Charlie and Connie who knew about Mary, ran to my room to see what had happened." Julie started to explain:

"After I told them she was ok, both left but he returned while you delivered the news of the pregnancy and heard me talking. So when mom asked about when he slept at our room, he suggested the joke and I went along."

"Did anyone found out?" Mary asked curiously.

"Connie, Guy, Adam, Coach Bombay and Miss MacKay arrived during it and heard the joke." Julie said with a smile.

"What did they say?" Alex asked laughing.

"The 3 Ducks burst out in laughter while Captain Blood and the teacher said nothing" Julie said before they got their orders and started to eat,

"Captain Blood?" Everyone asked confused, while Andrea helped Olivia with her dinner.

"That's how we called Coach Bombay when he became pretty insane with practices. Fortunately for all of us, and our rest, it didn't last very long." Julie commented without giving more details.

"So you didn't tell anyone else, right?" Paul, her father, asked sternly.

"After I hung the phone and we had some laugh," Julie started to explain: "The phone rang again and I answered thinking it was you that called to shout me."

"I didn't call you till next morning, so who called and what did you say?" Andrea asked curious.

"I know it wasn't you, but in that moment I didn't and I said that I was pretty busy practicing it with my Captain. That was until I knew who called." The goalie said blushing with that part of the memory,

"Who was it?" Everyone asked confused.

"It was his mom to tell him that she was pregnant." Julie replied with a smile. Alex, Mary and Katie burst out in laughter with that as they couldn't avoid it. Then the girl added: "I never saw anyone paling so much in short time."

"Oh my God." Andrea exclaimed shaking her head, thinking that perhaps she should apology to his mother for Julie's behavior.

"Take it easy, Mom. It was nothing but a joke and he explained it to her. And Charlie assured me that there was no problem with it. It seems that he has some twisted sense of humor from time to time and she knows it." Julie told her mother, when she realized what she was thinking.

"And who knew that you 2 slept together?" Paul asked seriously.

"First of all, Dad, he slept in my room, NOT in my bed. Charlie used Connie's. Second, the Coach knew it because he found it out the same night. And third, that was the only time he didn't sleep at his room. Am I clear or do you need an explanation more proper for someone like Olivia?" Julie asked him with a defying look as if daring him to give her a reason to continue the fight.

Her mom and her 4 siblings stopped talking and saw the possible round between the 2 of them: an argument between the goalie and her father was always something to see and hear. As long as you were not part of the argument, of course,

Paul was saved by one of her business associates, who went to say hi to him and his family. The man thanked God for that and turned away from Julie who smiled and returned to her dinner.

"You definitely have future as lawyer." Mary said with a smile as everyone else returned to their food.

"Did Mom tell you…?" Alex started to ask her.

"That I need a new team? Yes, she did. But let me tell you that after playing with the Ducks, you learn a new definition about being a team." Julie said with a wide smile.

"Really?" Katie asked curious.

"Can you see Axel or any of the others supporting me and my tears for 2 days just as Charlie and the others did?" Julie asked with sarcasm

"I see Axel more interested in taking that joke to reality than anything else." Mary said with a snort.

"They explained me that the original team was just a bunch of bad players till Coach Bombay started to train them. And you saw how they played now." The goalie explained, while her father returned her attention to her and the others. Then she told him very seriously: "You start to talk with someone else tonight and spend more than 2 minutes doing so, and I'll stab the pen in your hand." Then she went on eating.

"Ok, sweetie, I won't." Paul said with a nod, as he knew that she would do it,

"You came more violent than before you left." Alex commented.

"You'll have to blame Dean and Fulton for that." Julie said with a smile.

"Hey, is that Wu guy as hot as he looks on the TV?" Mary asked curious.

"He's shy but he knows how to skate." She said before someone came to their table and Julie tried to resist the urge to shout to that person to leave them alone!

"Can I get an autograph?" A little girl, who looked about 5 or 6 years, asked Julie shyly.

"What's your name?" The goalie asked with a smile, as she relaxed herself and taking her father's pen to do it,

"I'm Alicia." The girl said with a smile while Julie signed it and gave it to het. The little girl smiled and returned to her parents.

"That's something that Grandpa always told me: no matter how bad the adults treat you…" Julie commented, only to be finished by her siblings.

"Always do your best, to make a child happy."

"It was his motto." Paul said to his kids with a smile, as he had heard it a million of times.

"Mom told me that you 2 made look my outburst as one of Olivia's tantrums." Julie told her sisters.

"You are not the only one on this family that can show her fingernails. Of course, ours are nothing compared to yours." Katie said laughing.

Fortunately for everyone, no one disturbed them anymore and they left some time later, with Julie carrying Katie on her arms. After tucking her in her bed, the goalie went to her room and started to arrange her clothes for that night,

"This is just in case you need it." Andrea told her daughter leaving a bag of pull-ups under her bed and left after kissing her goodnight. Then she returned and said: "K said that she would be here tomorrow before going to school so sleep all you can."

Julie laughed thinking in her best friend and the only survivor of her old friends, which most of them hadn't passed a test that she had done last year after losing her boyfriend and realizing who really cared for her or not.

K, or Keisha as was her name, was another 'unofficial' member of the family as she always entered at the house without knocking and had invited herself to eat in more than a few occasions.

She had been with her at some of her hardest times and never left her side. She was the only unconditional friend she had ever had and she was never in doubt when Julie reconsidered her friends.

She had a place in the whole lot of pictures that were at her bed-table, along some of her with her parents, siblings and Grandparents. The last thing the goalie did before turning off the lights was to add the one that she shared with Charlie and Connie on the Ice the day after winning the medal, the 3 of them wearing the Duck's jerseys.

….

The next morning, the whole Gaffney family was having breakfast when the back door was opened and saw a black girl with dreadlocks entering.

"She's still sleeping." Andrea told Keisha before she could ask about her best friend. The girl nodded, took a toast and hurried upstairs, leaving her schoolbag on the usual spot near the door.

Keisha went straight to the room and burst into it, jumping over Julie immediately and waking the Goalie on the process.

"Girl, I missed you!" K said laughing and hugging her still groggy friend.

"You should explain me some day how can you have so much energy at this time, Keisha." Julie said seeing it was barely 8.15 a.m. Her friend was a constant source of energy, no matter what time it was: early in the morning or late at night.

"I'm hyperactive." Keisha laughed, standing and letting Julie get up from bed. Once she was out of it, they hugged properly. Then the black girl said: "I came to see you but can't miss school today: have math's test."

Julie's Grandfather had moved some strings to make sure that his granddaughter's best friend got a scholarship on her own school. Since first day, Keisha had kept some of the highest grades at the School and with that she proved Mark that he had been right in trusting her.

"Did you bring the school notes?" Julie asked her, while she looked at the pile of gifts that she bought for everyone for the ones that were for Keisha.

"Yep, I have them here." K said handing her a lot of notes and putting them in the bed-table. Then she saw the picture of Charlie and Connie and asked laughing: "Are you replacing me?"

"That's something impossible to do, K! They did a couple of things for me during the games and earned a spot there." Julie said with a smile giving her some packages.

"Hey, I have to go if I don't want to be late." The black girl said with a glance on her watch and putting the gifts on her bag. Then she added before leaving: "I'll come tonight for dinner and you tell me everything!"

"I'll make sure that mom adds a plate for you!" Julie shouted before going to the shower, before going to breakfast. On the table, still were her mom, Mary and Olivia. Her father, Alex and Katie had already left obviously.

"She comes tonight, right?" Andrea asked her daughter, while giving her a juice and cereals.

"As if she needs an invitation!" Julie laughed before reading the comics on the newspaper.

"Julie, can you pick Olivia today? I have a meeting and none of your siblings can do it." Andrea asked the goalie, who nodded, Then the 3 left the house: Olivia and Mary for the school and Andrea went to work.

Julie decided to finish sorting out everything she had bought during the games and make some redecorations on her room as she had to fill the spaces that Alex created while she was away.

The first thing she placed in one of the wall was her Duck's Jersey. She didn't know where the original of the USA Team was but didn't really matter. Right above it, was the Gold Medal, and was one of the few trophies that still remained at her room. Alex had taken all the ones that reminded them of the team and left only the ones that she won as Goalie: less scored goalie during the season for 3 years in a row; best rookie player during her first year; best Goalie for 3 years too and a few others.

Then she framed and placed the pictures of the other Ducks, with one of the whole team on the center.

After doing so for a 2 hours and having a quick snack, she put her rollers and went to skate. She still had a few hours before having to pick Olivia.

….

At 2 o'clock, she went to the Mall where Alex had his store and went to say hi to her brother, who at the moment was a bit busy attending clients. Although he had the help of another attendant, they were very busy. Julie noticed that many people wanted to buy one of the Duck's Jerseys or anything related to the team.

"I need this for a second!" Julie shouted Alex, picking a black marker and going towards the Jerseys. Without another word, she started to sign them while everyone saw her shocked.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the great Goalie that played for the USA team…" The attendant announced before Julie stopped him shouting:

"It's the Ducks!"

"Sorry for my mistake then," The guy said with a smile to her and went on announcing: "and made them win the Gold Medal for our country, Julie 'The Cat' Gaffney!"

Everyone started clapping to her, and Julie smiled and bowed to everyone while she went on signing Jerseys. When she was done, she gave the marker back to her brother and hugged him.

"I want the ten percent of those Jerseys!" Julie whispered to Alex while most of the clients picked some of the signed ones.

"Will you stay for a while?" Alex asked while cashing the sales, and putting aside some of the money: it was the one that he would have to give her sister for the autographs.

"I have to pick Olivia from the Kinder. I came to see how you were doing. See you at home." Julie said kissing him before she waved her goodbye to the attendant that had been working there almost since the beginning and took care of the shop while the owners were away for any reason.

When she arrived to Olivia's School, it was almost 2.30 p.m. so she had some time to kill. Before she could think what to do, the Director arrived to the school and saw her.

"The little hero has returned." She said with a smile and hugging Julie. She was an old family friend and had seen the 5 Gaffney kids on her classrooms.

"How have you been, Mrs. Smith?" Julie asked with a smile before both entered and the girl heard the usual chaos that was at the Kinder.

"I'm fine, dreaming of my retirement next fall." The old lady said with a smile.

"This place won't be the same without you. I remember all the times I was sent to your Office!" Julie laughed while they stopped at the door of Olivia's classroom and she saw her sister drawing.

"I can't remember a week without you being there at least once!" The Director said laughing too, before she knocked the door and the teacher saw them.

"Julie!" Olivia exclaimed when she saw her big sister and ran to her.

"Millie, this is Julie Gaffney, an old student of this place and the holder of the record of more trips to my Office in a year: 120." The Director said as she and Julie shook hands.

"I practically lived there." The Goalie said with a smile before she asked the Director: "Do you still have my mom's number on your phone's speed dial?"

"I've had it since Alex was a student here!" The old woman laughed.

"You came to pick her?" Millie asked her while Olivia returned to her seat and went on drawing.

"Neither my parents nor my siblings could do it, so Mom asked me to." Julie explained her before she asked: "How is she doing?"

"As good as you can expect after what happened to your grandfather." Mrs. Smith said with sadly before she gave her condolences and Julie nodded her thanks.

"Would you like to talk to them about your experience on the Games?" Millie asked her suddenly.

"Sure but not today. It would be a too short chat." Julie said seeing that it was already 2.45 and the classes would end in 15 minutes.

"Come tomorrow then. I'll love to hear it too. Not everyday one of your favorite students becomes a national hero." Mrs. Smith said with a smile while Millie went back to the classroom to get everyone ready for the exit.

"So I'm one of your favorite students? Despite all the pranks I played to old Mrs. Lannin?" Julie asked laughing remembering all the things she had done to her Pre-school teacher, who had no patience with her students and was a witch, That year was the one when she beat all the record of being sent to Mrs. Smith's Office.

"She was hard to deal with." Mrs. Smith said diplomatically.

"She was a witch! No one stood her!" Julie said seriously.

"Miss. Gaffney, that's not the way to talk about a teacher!" Mrs. Smith tried to lecture her, but barely held a little laugh.

"It's the truth. And, Director, don't you always say that kids don't have to lie and speak the truth all the time?" Julie asked with a smile.

"The world is ending: Julie Gaffney giving me a lesson! Where is the world heading to?" The old teacher laughed, while they heard the bell ringing and all the kids left their classrooms. Olivia ran to her sister and she picked her up.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Julie said to her former Director, who nodded, before both girls left speaking about Olivia's day.

….

That night Keisha showed up for dinner and left with Julie as soon as both were done eating.

"I really missed you, girl!" K said hugging her friend fiercely.

"Me too, K, me too!" Julie said before both sat at her bed face to face.

"Start speaking! And first tell me about those 2! You don't put any picture there without a goddamn reason!" Keisha said pointing to the latest addition of the bed-table.

Only the closest person to her had the privilege of being placed there. Not even Axel while being her boyfriend was there. If your picture was on it, it meant that you were REALLY important.

"Charlie and Connie supported me when my grandfather died. He even slept on my room that night to make sure I was ok and had someone near if I needed to cry." Julie said before she told Keisha what had happened those 2 days.

"You know I loved that man, so I really feel sorry about his death." Keisha said seriously.

"I know it, K. I really miss him." The blond girl said with a sad smile before she said with an evil grin: "And you have no idea of the little joke we played to my family!"

"Tell it, tell it!" K said with a laugh.

Julie explained about what she and Charlie had done when her parents asked about the night they shared the room and all of what happened later. The black girl was rolling in laughter hearing it. At the end of it, Keisha was gasping for air,

"You are evil!" The girl said when she recovered her air.

"I know it!" Julie said with a maniac smile.

Then she told her friend everything that had happened during the games, her feelings, her experiences with the other Ducks, Coach Bombay becoming Captain Blood, Miss MacKay's classes and the camping trip. She also showed her the pictures she had taken the whole time.

"How have the things been around here?" Julie asked her friend seriously when she was done with her tale.

"Axel made sure that you were kicked out of the team. Brittany has spoken pests of you at the School. Besides that, there is nothing new." Keisha said with a shrug, referring to Julie's old friend, who stole her boyfriend.

"And you?" Julie asked arching an eyebrow. Something seemed to be bothering her,

"What do you want first: the good news, the bad one, the worse or the worst?" Keisha asked seriously.

"The good one I guess." Julie said worriedly.

"My dad got a promotion on his job and it's a big one." K said with a smile, before she lost it and went on with the not so good news:

"He's being sent to Europe to work there for the company. And the whole family goes with him." Keisha said with sadness, and in the verge of tears.

"When do you leave?" Julie asked about to cry for losing her best friend,

"I think that it will be a week after the end of the School. Dad left last week and Mom and Kenny will travel in a month as soon as he has settled there. So I stay with my Grandma and take the plane after the exams." Keisha said before losing the battle and started to cry on Julie's shoulder that couldn't hold her own tears either and both were crying and trying to comfort each other.

"Shit, K, I'll miss you!" Julie said still crying.

"Who else will stand your moods now? I'll miss you more than you imagine, girl!" Keisha said after both separated and dried their tears. Then she said: "I hate to leave but it's my family."

"Hey, Keisha, you don't have to give me explanations! Of course I understand it. But it doesn't mean that I like it or that I won't be missing you." Then Julie went and picked the third stuffed duck she had brought. Se had said it was for her niece or nephew as it was her original idea, but now decided that she had to have it.

"You know how much I dislike teddies!" K said as she saw it, but she had to admit that this one was nice.

"Give it to Kenny then. He'll love it for sure! Olivia fell in love with it already and she just got it yesterday." Julie said smiling.

"I'll keep it only because it's you." Keisha said putting it near the bed to take it home when she left. Then she asked how Olivia was dealing with Mark's death.

"Mum told me that she took it badly. Fortunately, she found a good replacement of me in Minnie." Julie smile petting her dog, who acted as if she was sleeping, but keeping a close attention on both girls.

"Have you signed autographs yet?" Keisha asked trying to take back the chat to some happy topics.

"Yes, a few!" Julie laughed, seeing her best friend's efforts and deciding to follow it. It wouldn't be good to get depressed now and both had a while to enjoy each other's company before the black girl left, so they had to use it.

….

That same night, a couple of hours after Keisha left, Julie woke up as she heard some sobbing. She turned on the lamp of her bed-table and saw Olivia there with her wet clothes, her duck in her hand and her face was full of tears.

"Shhh, Oli, I'm here!" Julie said leaving her bed and hugging her baby sister who started to cry harder on her shoulder.

"Did I do something wrong to make Grandpa leave me?" The little girl asked her sister in a barely audible whisper.

"Olivia, No! You did nothing wrong! It's not your fault!" Julie exclaimed looking at her worriedly and wondering why she thought that.

"Then why didn't he say goodbye to me? Did he stop loving me?" Olivia asked crying louder.

"Olivia, Grandpa loved you as much as he loved any of us! He loved you a lot!" Julie assured her sister, and promising herself to talk to her mother some moment when Olivia wasn't around.

Olivia went on crying without saying a word as Julie tried to calm her down. She kicked Minnie, who opened her left eye, and said in a whisper: "wake mom". The dog left her spot at the bed and raced towards her parents' room to accomplish the mission.

"Olivia, I want you to listen to me very carefully, ok?" Julie asked her sister once her tears had calmed down a bit and she saw her mom at the frame of the door. The goalie made her a signal to not enter but to listen. Andrea nodded and stayed where she was. Obviously there was something wrong.

"You did nothing wrong and no matter what happened or anything else Grandpa NEVER EVER stopped loving you, ok? He always said that you were his favorite between us." Julie said her sister, who still had her head on her shoulder.

"Then why did he leave?" Olivia asked in a whisper.

"Olivia, when people grow and gets old, sometimes they get very sick." Julie tried to explain while she wondered how to continue. She saw that her mom remained at her spot and motioned her to go on, using her words.

"Like Mary?" Olivia asked. She had been told that her older sister was very sick but hadn't been told the whole truth, just one that she could understand at her age.

"Yes, like Mary." Julie nodded and went on: "Oli, when we grow up and we get old, we get sick and our bodies have some problems. Sometimes, those problems are very serious and we can't heal them. Grandpa had problems with his heart. It was old and didn't work as yours or mine that are younger.

"He knew that sooner or later, it would stop working. So instead of worrying us, mum and dad, he tried to enjoy his time spending it with you and me. He wanted us to be happy and to remember him as he was: the best grandfather we could ever have, that always had time for us." Julie looked at her sister who was listening to her words with attention and still had her head buried on her shoulder. Her mom motioned her to continue

"Olivia, it wasn't your fault what happened to him and I don't want to hear you saying that EVER. He loved you and cared about you a lot. He wouldn't have wanted that you ever thought that, ok?"

Olivia nodded, this time more calmed after her sister had said all those words. She knew that Julie would never lie to her. She didn't even notice her mom smiling to Julie and going back to her bed.

"What do you say if we change those clothes? You can't sleep with wet ones, can you?" Julie asked Olivia starting to take off her soaking PJs and panties.

Olivia saw the bag of pull-ups and took one of them and put them in while Julie looked for one of her t-shirts for her to use. It was too late to get one of her pajamas now and it would be enough replacement for the night. She smiled as she took one of the used during the games that read 'USA Team' and helped Olivia to put it in.

Both sisters went to bed next to each other with Minnie on her usual spot. Julie brushed Olivia's hair while little girl fell asleep and soon enough both were doing so.

….

"Good morning, kitty." Andrea greeted her daughter as soon as she went to breakfast, first of all.

"Morning." Julie growled, still half slept and getting some cereals. Then she asked her mom: "How did I do it with Olivia last night?"

"You did it great. She hadn't told me a word about her feelings and obviously she needed you to open herself." Andrea said with a smile, while the rest of the family came down and sat for breakfast.

"This is for you." Alex told Julie giving her an envelope that she didn't need to open to know what had inside: her part of the jerseys that were sold with her autographs.

"Do I need to know what is inside?" Paul asked his kids arching an eyebrow, while his wife looked at them curiously.

"Or want to?" Katie asked them, before she went to take a shower.

"No." Both said with a smile.

"Who picks Olivia today?" Mary asked everyone while they went on with the breakfast.

"I will. Her teacher asked me to talk to her class about the Games so I'll be there this afternoon." Julie informed her parents before she asked Alex if he could take her to the Mall with him.

"I leave in 15 minutes. If you are ready for then, I take you." Alex nodded before the girl ran to her room to change clothes, while he finished eating.

Before they left, she leaned in Mary and whispered her: "Take a picture of Katie for me when she leaves her shower, will you?"

Mary arched an eyebrow asking what was going on, but Julie left with an evil grin.

One moment later, she, Olivia and their parents heard Katie yelling: "JULIE!"

The four looked at each other confused, before the punk girl went downstairs in complete fury and having only a towel around her body. They saw nothing odd till Olivia asked her: "What happened to your hair, Katie?"

Mary saw it and almost fell of her chair laughing so hard and had to grab her mom's chair to not fall, who laughed too seeing her daughter's hair. Unfortunately, the chair didn't hold and both fell to the floor, causing both to laugh harder. Paul didn't ever try to hide his laughter while Katie looked as if she wanted to kill her whole family, starting with Julie.

"I like your new hairstyle, Katie!" Mary said between laughs, trying to stand from the floor and seeing her hair once again: it was dyed with all the colors of the rainbow. Julie obviously had it well planned her revenge and now Katie had to deal with it.

"She had told you that you would pay for what you did. So as I didn't want to hear a word from her about you, the same goes in the other way!" Andrea told her daughter very seriously before she said something against Julie.

Then the phone rang and Mary answered it. She heard what was said and arched an eyebrow again, and then she turned on the speaker and told Katie: "Julie wants to tell you something."

"BWAHAHAHA, BWAHAHAHA, BWAHAHAHA!" The goalie said laughing before she added: "And this is just the first half of what I've done!" Then she hung up and everyone looked at each other, wondering what the other half was.

"Katie, go to change now or you'll be late." Her mother ordered her seriously while she finished getting Olivia ready for the Kinder.

One minute later, they heard Katie yelling again: "JULIE, I'LL KILL YOU!"

The 4 ran upstairs wondering the reason of the yell, and wanting to know what Julie had done now. They found Katie looking the clothes she had washed the night before that now had a slight change.

Instead of the black color that they always had, now ALL of them looked like hippies' clothes as there dyed in the whole color range of the rainbow. On the top of them there was a note:

'Now your hair and clothes match!'

"I'll kill her!" Katie muttered starting to look for more clothes, only to find that Julie had dyed her WHOLE wardrobe and now all of her clothes were multi colored ones.

"Remind me to never piss her off!" Mary told her mom as both were laughing really hard now. Then she told her dad: "Dad, a good advice: If I were you I would forget about asking the doctor to see if she is virgin or not. Because then Julie will make this look like a child's game! And I don't REALLY think that it would be good for business if your hair is like hers!"

"Forget the idea! You suggest that when I take her to the doctor and you'll sleep on the couch for 2 months!" Andrea threatened her husband when he was about to answer Mary, while she went to her room to get a camera.

"This is too good to let it go." Mary told Katie as she started to take pictures. The former punk girl slammed the door of her room on her family's faces and started to yell against Julie.

….

"You didn't!" Alex exclaimed while Julie hung the phone of his car ands told him what she had done to Katie.

"I did! I would have really loved to see her face when she left the bathroom and saw her wardrobe!" The goalie laughed hard.

"You wouldn't have survived that experience!" Alex laughed before he turned serious and asked her: "What is bothering you?"

"Olivia came to my bed last night and asked me if it was her fault that Grandpa died and if he stopped loving her because he didn't say goodbye." Julie told her brother with a sad tone.

"What gave her that idea? She was his favorite!" Alex exclaimed shocked with the revelation.

"I don't know. I was as shocked as you. It took me a while to convince her that she had nothing to do with it." Julie said before she retold him all that she had said that night.

"Does Mom know this?" Alex asked, assuring her that she had said the right things.

"I made Minnie wake her as soon as Olivia told me what she was thinking. I wasn't sure if I could handle it properly and I preferred to have her near I case I needed her." She explained before she asked him: "What did he tell you? Mom said that he spoke to you and the girls and settled some things but she had no idea of what was it."

"He gathered the 3 of us and Mike and told us the situation." Alex started to speak, before he continued: "He told us why he hadn't said a word before. He didn't want to go through what Grandma did her last week. He hated the idea of being in a hospital for only God knew how long. He asked us to stay close to you and Olivia. He knew that you 2 would suffer with it more than anyone else, us included.

"He briefed us about his will and what he left to me and Katie. He told Mary that he wanted to speak with her about her part. He assured us that the accounts he left for us, wouldn't be touched by ANYONE. That the matter was solved long ago and also why they wouldn't be informed in his will."

"Mom said that but didn't give too many detail, except that he left us more money than to the rest of our cousins." Julie commented, while they arrived to the Mall and both went to open the store.

"Do you know why he loved us more that to his other Grandkids?" Alex asked her seriously, while he opened the door and turned on the lights.

"I always thought that because Dad was his oldest son and you his first grandchild or something like that." Julie said confused going to leave their bag-packs on the storage and returning to help him.

"That was the same reason I always thought too, but he explained us that it was for something completely different: we were the only ones who never acted as Snob and saw him as an eternal source of money. When we spent time with him, it was because we wanted to see our Grandfather, we didn't think on his money or what we could do to make him buy us something." Alex told her before going on:

"When I realized that I was Gay and in love with Mike, he was the first person I ever told. He met him before anyone else, even mom and dad. Whenever Katie was arrested, he was the person she called to get her out of there. When Mary was told that her Cancer couldn't be healed, she cried on him. When you got the measles, he's the one that stayed with you all those days,

"It wasn't because we didn't trust in what Mom and Dad would do or how they could react, Julie. It was because he always helped us without a question. It was the man that taught me to walk and taught the 4 of us to skate. You and I got the love for the hockey from him. He went to all the matches he could, even if Mom and Dad couldn't do it.

"He loved us more than to the others because of that: because all we saw in him to the person that we trusted in more than anyone, behind Mom and Dad. We never saw just the money, we always saw our Grandfather.

"And he told us he regretted not being able to see you to tell you goodbye. And he also asked me to deliver you the news and not to force you to return. That we had to leave you that choice."

"Mom told me that no, but I want your opinion, Alex: should I have come?" Julie asked her brother seriously, as she felt tears on her eyes, and saw that he had too.

"Julie, he didn't want you to return because he knew that if you did, perhaps you wouldn't go back and would have stayed here with us. And you would have left the Games without having a chance to show your skills and would have regretted it more than not coming. You followed your heart and I don't give a damn about what anyone else says, but for me, as your oldest brother, you made the right choice." Alex assured her very seriously and hugging her.

"You are the best. Thanks, Alex." Julie told him with a smile as she returned the embrace.

"Now, let's be serious and I want the truth: what happened that night between your and that boy Charlie?" Alex asked her seriously while both finished getting everything ready for the day.

"He's the one that found me crying after your call." Julie started to explain: "I don't remember too much between our 2 chats of that day, but what I know is that when I woke up after crying all the morning, he was hugging me and let me cry on his shoulder when I needed it.

"That night, I was still a mess and he asked Connie to switch rooms for the night. The idea was to not let anyone find out but it failed."

"How so?" Alex asked curious.

"You see, there was one minor problem with that arrangement: Connie dates another of the Ducks, Guy, who happens to be one of Charlie's best friend and also one of his roommates on the Hotel's room.

"So, when Coach Bombay and Miss MacKay checked the rooms in some moment of the night, they found her at the boys' room. When they asked where Charlie was, they were said that he was in my room and the cat was out of the bag." Julie finished her tale laughing along Alex. Before her brother could ask why he had spent the night there with her, the Goalie told him about how the situation with the other Ducks was and why they called his House the Sanctuary.

"He didn't do anything that he wouldn't have done for any of the others." Julie explained her brother.

"No matter what mom or dad say, he is a good guy on my book and will have my gratitude for what he did." Alex assured him, while the door was opened and his boyfriend entered.

"Hey, stranger!" Mike said kissing his boyfriend, before he saw Julie and hugged her saying: "Kitty! How is my favorite sister-in-law?"

"I'm great, Mike! How is your mom? Alex told me that she was in the Hospital." Julie asked hugging him back.

"She's as old and crazy as always. No matter what the Doctors say, she'll live for another 10 years at least." Mike said with a smile, then he took her hand and carried her inside the storage: "Come with me, I want to hear everything."

"I can see that he's got his mom's genes: he's as crazy as always!" Julie told her brother laughing going inside too, while Alex started to attend the first clients.

"Hi, Jean, how are you doing today?" Alex asked recognizing the little girl that was with her mother. He had met them some time ago, during one of Mary's Chemotherapy sessions and had started to talk about Hockey. She had kidney Cancer and from he had heard last time, it seemed that she would recover.

"Hi, Alex." Both said with a smile.

"Is it true that you sell autographed Duck's Jerseys?" Jean asked him hoping that he still had one.

"Give me a second." Alex asked her before he went to the storage's door and shouted inside: "Kitty, come here!"

"What's the matter?" Julie asked leaving with Mike, while Jean opened her eyes widely seeing her.

"This young girl wants to know if we sell autographed Duck's Jerseys." Alex told her sister giving her a marker.

"What's your name?" The goalie asked Jean going towards the Jerseys, but the little girl still didn't react.

"Her name is Jean." Alex informed her sister, who nodded and signed the Jersey writing on it "For Jean with Love, Julie 'the Cat' Gaffney.'

"THANKS!" Jean shouted hugging her.

"She's my little sister." Alex explained Jean's mom before he informed his boyfriend: "She gets the 10 percent of the money we get from all her signed Jerseys."

"How many did she sign?" Mike asked curious, while the woman paid and both girls talked.

"She did it with 15 yesterday and they lasted 5 minutes!" Alex laughed while Jean thanks Julie once more and she and her mother left. Then he explained the Goalie: "I met her once when I went with Mary to one of her Chemo sessions. She has Kidney Cancer."

"Did you and the others get the gifts I bought for everyone?" Julie asked remembering her gifts suddenly.

"Olivia assaulted the bags as if it was Christmas' morning!" Alex said laughing then he added: "We were able to sort out almost all of them. The only ones we didn't touch were the unnamed ones."

"Is that Katie?" Mike suddenly asked seeing someone out of the shop.

"I'M NOT HERE!" Julie told her brother before she ran inside a few seconds before her sister entered.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Katie asked Alex, as he and Mike took a look at her hair and clothes and burst out in laughter,

"Gone!" Alex said between laughs and gasping for air. Julie definitely had outdone herself this time with her revenge!

"Did you finally quit to the punk style, Katie?" Mike asked with a smile, and making a mental note to ask what had caused Julie's revenge this time.

"Tell her she's dead as soon as I find her!" The girl told Alex before storming out of the shop, with both boys still laughing.

"What happened this time?" Mike asked his boyfriend as Julie left the storage and both congratulated her,

"Explain it to him while I autograph some more Jerseys." The goalie asked her brother taking her marker and going to do so.

"You are a very evil kitty!" Mike laughed when he finished the tale and she returned the marker.

"I have to go. I need to do a couple of things before going to Olivia's class to talk to them." Julie told them before she left with a smile.

She walked through the mall and saw some shops trying to avoid Katie, who had to buy all her clothes again. She laughed imagining the seller's faces when she entered.

….

A couple of hours later, Julie went to the Kinder where she and all her siblings had gone, but this time not as students or sister: she was there as a guest to talk with kids about her experience.

She remembered a few of those when she was a child: politicians, artist, athletes and even a Baseball player had visited them. She knew that all the kids really liked those as it was their only chance to meet face to face someone they only saw on TV.

First of all she went to the Director's Office and was greeted by a very familiar voice: "Again here, Miss Gaffney? What have you done this time to poor Mrs. Lannin?"

"Hello Mrs. Gold!" Julie said laughing and hugging the Director's secretary. She was the face that anyone sent there had to see before seeing Mrs. Smith and sometimes she saved the kids from that, dealing with the matter herself.

"Hi, Julie!" The old woman said with a smile before both entered at the Office.

Inside Mrs. Smith was reading some papers and smiled when she saw the goalie. She hugged her with a smile and the 3 sat down.

"What did you bring?" Mrs. Gold asked pointing to her bag-pack.

"A few things: my jersey, my medal, some pictures and something that they'll love." Julie explained showing them the stuffed duck.

"I have to say that I love it and I'm not a kid." The Director said with a smile.

"The first thing Olivia asked me when she saw it was if she could have it. Fortunately I brought her one!" The girl smiled.

"Did something happen to her yesterday? She acted as she did before Mark's death. If we didn't know it, we would think that nothing happened." Mrs. Gold asked her curiously.

"Olivia just needed someone to reassure her a few things." Julie said before she told them about the chat of that night.

"Poor girl." The Director said with a sigh. Then someone knocked the door and she invited in the person: it was Mrs. Lannin bringing a student who made mocking faces as his teacher looked straight forward and not to him.

"Will she ever retire?" Julie asked Mrs. Gold in a whisper.

"In 2 years if God wants. Less, if he answers our pray." The Secretary whispered back, as the teacher complained to the Director about the kid's behavior, who saw Julie and exclaimed:

"Are you Julie Gaffney?"

That made the pre-school teacher to turn to see her most feared student, who smiled sweetly at her. Without another word, the teacher stormed out of the room and the goalie burst out in laughter.

"I see she's still scared of me." The blond told the Director with a smile.

"You and your sister Katie were her nightmares." The Director said with a smile before she asked her Secretary to take the boy out and talk to him about his misbehavior.

"And next year she has Olivia as student." Julie said laughing.

"I'll give you a few minutes to get ready while I gather all the kids." The Director said leaving her Office momentarily and Julie took all her things.

….

About ten minutes later, Mrs. Smith started to speak to all her students. Although the idea was for just Olivia and her classmates, they though it would be better if it was for also the pre-school's kids to be there.

"Today, we'll have a chat given by a former student of this institute. She holds a record here: she was the student who was sent to my office more times that any other. In her pre-school year, there wasn't a week in which she didn't visit my office.

"All of us saw her and her teammates win the Gold Medal during the Good Will Games playing for our country and she has accepted to talk to you. Kids, let me introduce you to Julie 'The Cat' Gaffney."

Immediately all the kids clapped as she entered with a smile, wearing her Jersey and the Medal around her neck. When everyone calmed down, she said:

"I never thought I would be one of the 'Famous People Who Sets Examples' as Mrs. Smith always call the guests to the chats we had while I was here a few years ago."

"Neither did me!" Several adults said with a chuckle.

"My name is Julie Gaffney. Some of you know my baby sister, Olivia, and as Mrs. Smith said, I was a student here a few years ago." Julie started to talk:

"I learnt to play hockey when I was 6 and my teacher was my Grandfather who passed me his love for this sport. I started playing as enforcer but my coach decided to keep me away from the main action as I was expelled too often from the matches and I learnt to be a Goalie.

"A few months ago, a man invited me to play for our National Team in the Good Will Games and I accepted as I considered it a privilege to wear to represent my country.

"Although I only played the shoot out of the final match, I considered myself part of the team and made really good friends there. I consider two of them, as my best ones, as they were at my side when I went through a personal problem and never left me alone."

Julie then started to talk to them about the games, what they did during the whole time, practices and everything she could think about. Then she showed her medal and gave it to the kids so all of them could see it closer and touch it. She showed them some of the pictures and explained who each duck on it was.

She heard someone laughing discreetly and turned to see Katie with Mary and her Mom, who went to see her chat. Her older sister looked ready to murder her. Mrs. Smith turned to shut her secretary who had laughed and saw Katie. She had to make great efforts to not laugh too.

"I think that Julie Gaffney has hit again." The old secretary told her boss, while Julie finished speaking and the Director stood.

"Now, kids, if any of you want, feel free to ask questions."

"Were you nervous during the last shoot?" A boy of pre-school asked first.

"Very nervous. I knew that I could make us win or the shoot out would continue. So I had to give my best on it. Fortunately, I stopped it and we won." Julie answered with a smile.

"Were you sad because of not playing?" A girl asked.

"I was a bit anxious, but not sad. Goldberg was a great goalie too and I knew I had to wait for my chance to play." The goalie said after thinking for a few moments.

"Did you enjoy being there?"

"A lot. I made some great new friends and I really loved being there with them. They always made me feel like one more of them, even if I wasn't one of the original Ducks. They made me feel as one more of them." Julie explained with a wide smile.

"What did you feel when you won?"

"Happiness. I was really happy of winning and more because I was the key to the victory for stopping that penalty."

The kids went on asking questions for another while till Mrs. Smith said that they had to finish it. Then Julie took the stuffed Duck and showed it explaining what it was and the kids saw it amazed. Once again she passed it around for everyone to see it and she saw that many of the kids wanted to know if they could get one too. She explained that it was a special gift for the Ducks only and she had brought only one more for her sister.

"And she loved it from the moment she saw it with me when I arrived to the Airport." Julie said with a smile, ruffling Olivia's hair who smiled back.

"You know the ritual, Julie." Mrs. Smith said with a brush on her hand. It was tradition that all the visitors got their hands painted and they plastered them on a paper so it was exposed later, with a picture and signed by the person.

"I haven't got my hands painted since pre-school." Julie laughed following the ritual with a smile. Once she had done it, she cleaned her hands and signed it. Then Mrs. Gold took a picture of her with all the kids.

"Please thank Miss Gaffney for coming." Millie asked her students with a smile.

"Thanks, Miss Gaffney." All the kids chorused at the same time.

"It was a pleasure for me to be with you." Julie said bowing to them with a smile, before she waved her goodbye and left with her mom and siblings. Olivia joined them after Andrea asked the Director if she could take her home a bit early. As it was almost 2.30 p.m., Mrs. Smith agreed to it.

"I told you that I would make you pay for what you did that day. So deal with it." Julie told Katie seriously before all the Gaffney females went to the car.

"You didn't have to dye my clothes!" Katie shouted her angrily.

"It wouldn't look good if they didn't match with your hair, would it?" The goalie asked laughing, sitting on the back seat next to Olivia and Mary. Katie took the passenger seat as her mom drove.

….

The next morning, found Julie going to the Mall again. As she wouldn't start school till Monday and most of what had been seen there she had studied it with Michelle, she didn't have much to do.

She hung around his brother's shop till lunch when he went to eat with Mike and Mary who also showed up for a while. She had explained Julie that she was now taking vitamins to give her some strength and they seemed to be working ok. So she had to put good use of them while she could.

"Julie, remain calm and remember murder is a crime:" Mike told her suddenly. She arched an eyebrow to him and turned to see where he looked to, only to find Axel with 2 guys,

"Julie, be calm." Her sister said as the trio went to them, as the goalie's face turned into a furious one.

"Play along with me." Julie told his brother-in-law with an evil smile. Mike arched an eyebrow, not liking that smile at all, but nodded anyway.

"Look who's here, the big hero." Axel said with a smile.

"Hi, Axel. How is Brittany?" Julie asked with a fake smile. Now, Mike and Mary, were REALLY worried, but remained silent.

"You 2 are still together right? Or she finally found out the truth?" Julie asked when he gave an evasive answer.

"Which truth are you talking about?" Axel asked confused, as the other wondered the same.

"That you are gay! It's really obvious! I mean when we were alone and almost naked, your little toy didn't lift. So I understood the reason. You like boys, not girls." The blond said with a smile. Mike, who was drinking coffee, started to cough and Mary patted her back as she tried to hold her laughter.

"I'm not gay!" Axel shouted.

"Are you sure? Because I asked Mike how to identify one, and you fit all his descriptions." Julie said before he turned to his brother's boyfriend and said: "Look at his face, Mike, does he look like he is straight to you?"

"I've never seen someone with so gay face, and trust I met a lot of them. I'm one after all." Mike commented with a sweet smile.

"I mean, you are always with these 2." Julie continued pointing to his companions, before she went on speaking: "You are barely seen with girls. You change of girlfriend more often that I have my period. That means that you are GAY!"

Julie's shout was heard at the whole food court and everyone turned to see what was going on and pointed to Axel, who was blushing like a tomato. He turned around and left with a curse to her as the 2 sisters and their brother-in-law burst out in laughter.

"That, my dear kitty, was very sweet!" Mike laughed hard as both sisters gave the 5 to each other.

They finished their lunch quickly and returned to the shop still laughing. Alex arched an eyebrow to his boyfriend, not liking Julie's smile at all. It clearly said that she was up to something and that he wouldn't like it.

"Julie has just showed how sweet can be one of her revenges!" Mary said to her brother before she told him what she the Goalie had done with Axel.

"You better talk to dad today, because Mum just called me to inform me that Axel and his family are coming come for dinner this Saturday. She wanted to know which would be my excuse to miss it." Alex informed her sister who groaned. Then he told his boyfriend: "If someone asks, your mother is still at the Hospital and we'll pay her a visit. It was the only good excuse I could think about."

"Mom won't mind us using her as an excuse. She uses me as one a lot of times." Mike laughed, nodding Alex. Then he asked Julie seriously: "Were you 2 really almost naked?"

"Mike, I might be young but I have taste. I never let him go further some kissing." Julie told him very seriously.

"Now we need to find an excuse too!" Mary told her sister, who nodded.

"Forget anything related to concerts. That's Katie's. She said that Jeff had one this weekend and would go to see him." Alex informed them, having already called his other sister to know what excuse she would give.

"Face or tail?" Julie asked her sister taking a coin.

"Face." Mary said seriously, before she explained both boys: "We try to decide who plays the sick's role this time,"

"Your turn." Julie said showing the coin that had fallen on the tail's side.

"I won't even comment!" Alex said to both of them.

"We better go home and try to explain this to Mom. I hope she doesn't get too mad." Mary said to her sister, who nodded and both said goodbye and went home,

….

"You called Axel WHAT?" Katie asked Julie when she informed her parents about the incident.

"Gay. You should have seen his face!" Mary laughed as she remembered it.

"Don't ever count on me for tomorrow! As Mike reminded me today, murder is a crime!" Julie told her parents very seriously, not leaving place for arguments.

"Katie goes to a concert; Alex goes to visit Mike's mom and you 2?" Andrea asked her daughter.

"She'll play the sick role and I'll take care of her." Julie said with a smile.

"Didn't you do that role last time?" Andrea asked Mary with an arched eyebrow.

"I lost the coin flipping." She explained with a smile.

In that moment, the phone rang and Julie answered it.

"Gaffney Residence." The goalie said.

"What's her mother's name?" The blond heard the caller asking someone near her. She didn't recognize it, but sounded a bit familiar.

"I have no idea. Julie only told me her sibling's names!" She heard the other person answering and recognizing the 2 voices now: Charlie and his mom.

"Hello, Mrs. Conway. Her name is Andrea." Julie laughed and catching everyone's attention.

"Hi, Julie. Can I talk to your mom please?" Casey asked her with a smile.

"Charlie's mom wants to speak with you." Julie informed her mother before she added: "I don't know her name either. Charlie just told me his step-father's name."

"Kids!" Andrea muttered taking the phone and saying: "I'm afraid that we are having the same problem, as Julie doesn't know your name either."

"I'm Casey." Charlie's mom laughed for a moment before she turned serious and asked: "I guess you know why I call."

"Probably about the little joke your son and my daughter played on us." Andrea said with a nod.

"That one. I should apology for his behavior. He doesn't show his twisted sense of humor very often, but when he does, I'm terrified." Casey said with a sigh.

"It's not that bad!" Charlie shouted behind her.

"Isn't it?" Both moms asked at the same time.

"Ask her about what her sister did to provoke her anger!" Charlie told his mom with a sneer.

"I'm afraid he's right on that. My daughter Katie tested Julie's patience and temper that day. I mean, who in the right state of mind, would call her at 8.00 in the morning, just after they won the tournament?" Andrea asked, shooting a glare to her daughter,

"I wanted her to be the first to know the news!" Katie shouted trying a defense.

"That is not an excuse!" Andrea shouted to Katie and Case to her son at the same time.

"Anyway," Andrea said to Casey, "I'm the one who has to thank your son."

"Really?" Casey asked confused.

"He spent the night with Julie when my Father-in-law died to make sure she was ok. The little joke came because of Katie asking Julie about that night. And when his sense of humor joined her anger towards her, the joke was born. And from what my daughter has repeated over and over, nothing of that happened." Andrea explained.

"You can be sure of that. He may have some twisted humor, but I know my son enough to see him being at her side, even if that meant breaking several rules." Casey said with a smile. Then she added: "Right now I have a boy who's anxious to talk to his friend, and probably you have the same situation on your side."

"It was a pleasure to talk to you, Casey." Andrea smiled before Charlie took the phone.

"Sorry for the joke, Mrs. Gaffney." Charlie apologized.

"There was no harm done, Charlie, so don't worry. And thanks for being at Julie's side that day. God knows she needed some good support." Andrea said seriously before she added: "Now I better give her the phone before she cuts my hand to get it."

"Hey, Charlie. Give me a second." Julie said before going to her room to talk away from her family.

"Did they give you too many troubles?" He asked as soon as she was alone.

"The only thing they asked was about it!" Julie laughed before she asked how he was.

"I'm getting ready for a party with Jan and Hans. I'm waiting for Fulton, Connie and Guy to go." He explained before he added: "Did you do your revenge or not yet?"

"Oh, yes, I did!" She laughed and explained what she had done.

"And they say my sense of humor is twisted!" Charlie said laughing hard.

"What about you? How is your mom acting with it?" She asked with a smile.

"Well, she made me give her your number to talk to your Mom, so imagine it." The Captain said before the bell rang and added: "Give me a second, it must be the others."

"Conway, finally you answered!" Guy shouted entering at his house, with Fulton and his girlfriend.

"He's a bit high today. It seems his house is in peace." Charlie told Julie, before informing his friends: "Give me a second while I finish talking to Julie and we go."

"Hi, Cat!" The 3 Ducks chorused at the same time.

"Hi, guys!" She shouted so they could hear her.

"Is everything ok over there? Mom doesn't know the other problem and I didn't want to ask anything with her near." Charlie said with concern.

"As good as always, I guess. Nothing changed on that matter." Julie said, knowing he talked about Mary.

"What about everything else?" Connie asked. Obviously Charlie turned on the speaker so the 4 could talk.

"I'm still trying to find an excuse to not be at home tomorrow. Axel comes with his family and it won't be nice." Julie said before she told her friends what happened at the mall that day. She could hear their laughter and someone falling to the floor, followed by someone else and more laughter.

"And people say that I have a twisted sense of humor! You beat me!" Charlie said, while he stood and helped Guy, who fell first and took him down.

"Come here!" Connie said with a smile and added: "There's always room in Charlie's place!"

"After the joke? Mom would send me to live somewhere else before both of us being at the same place!" Charlie shouted to her.

"What joke?" Fulton asked confused.

"Charlie showed his sense of humor to her family!" Guy said as all explanation.

"Oh, God! Conway, what did you do this time?" The enforcer asked the Captain.

"I'll tell you later." Charlie told his friend, before he said to Julie: "We have to go. It was great to talk to you."

"Bye, guys. And it was great too. Say hi to the others." Julie said with a smile.

"Bye, Cat!" The 4 Ducks chorused before they hung up.

"Everything ok?" Andrea asked her daughter as she returned to the kitchen.

"It is. I needed some laughs." The goalie said with a smile, before announcing she was going to bed.

….

The next day, Julie spent the whole morning trying to review the notes Keisha had delivered her from School, and trying to think in something that wasn't that night's dinner.

But dinner arrived, and Axel came with his family. Unfortunately, they weren't the only diners as some of her former friends also came with their families.

"I'm starting to think I should have accepted Connie's invitation to go to the other Ducks' state." The goalie muttered to Mary, who chuckled with that,

"And where would you have stayed? Perhaps it would be with your friend Charlie?" She asked with a smile.

"The invitation to be there was done. We would have needed to convince his mom." Julie retorted with a smile.

"I think how you would have convinced them is a better question." Mary laughed pointing to their parents, who shot them a glare to be quiet.

"Julie, congratulations." One of her mom's best friends said hugging her and Mary. When her husband and daughter came in, they did the same. Julie smiled genuinely as they weren't acting in their congratulations as all of the others.

"Is it true that you called Axel gay?" Michelle asked her with a wide smile.

"Yes, she did!" Mary said with a nod.

"You are evil." The girl said with another smile before everyone took seat and started to dinner.

"Remember Mike's advice: murder is a crime." Mary whispered to her sister.

"Take it easy, I won't kill anyone tonight." Julie assured her with a smile.

The dinner went on and as usual the chat headed towards Hockey and Julie's actions during the games. But Axel wanted to take revenge from her and said with a snide.

"She barely played, so she mustn't have been that good."

Everyone went quiet with that and looked at Julie, who smiled with his comment.

"Well, at least I was considered to play for my Country, Axel. What about you? Did any scouted pay you a visit?" The goalie asked with a smile before she smacked his forehead and added: "Oh sorry, I forgot. You wouldn't have set a good example for kids. I wonder what would have happened if the little secret was found out."

"Don't!" Mary whispered her elbowing her ribs, as her parents looked at her with a pleading look, begging her to not continue.

"What secret?" Michelle asked innocently, while everyone looked confused.

"Please, don't!" Andrea begged her daughter in a whisper. But Julie's look told her that that begging fell on deaf ears,

"You mean to tell me that no one noticed it?" Julie asked with fake confusion. Then she added: "It's obvious that Axel is on the wrong team."

"Which team?" Michelle's mother asked, but thinking that she knew the answer, and noticing Andrea and Paul's paleness, while Mary tried to run from her sister's side.

"I mean the straight team. Axel is gay." Julie said with a wide smile.

"WHAT?" Everyone asked shouting, while Axel paled and his mother fainted.

"Yes, it's obvious that he doesn't like girls. He has all the signs if you know where to look them." The goalie said with a smile.

There was a chaos as everyone started to shout to both Julie, Axel, her parents, her sister, his family and to everyone else.

When the phone rang in the middle of the chaos, only Olivia heard it and answered it. She heard for a minute and went to Julie who sat enjoying the chaos.

"It's for you." The little girl said giving her the phone.

"Hello." Julie said trying to speak over the noise.

"Julie, it's me." She recognized Charlie's voice immediately and also knew that something was wrong with him. She stood and went to the kitchen to talk in private.

"What happened?" The blond asked worriedly, as she saw her mom entering and she made her a signal to give her a minute, Andrea nodded and waited till she was done to talk to her.

"Oh, God…" Charlie said with a sob and trying to compose.

"Charlie, what happened?" Julie asked really worried now. When more people came in and started to shout at her, he yelled: "SHUT UP, YOU IDIOTS! I TRY TO SPEAK ON THE FUCKING PHONE!"

"Do I call in bad moment?" Charlie asked confused, having recovered.

"Charlie, what happened?" Julie asked again.

"Jesse is dead. He died an hour ago." The Captain said delivering the news. Julie had to get hold of a chair as she almost fell to the floor. Andrea went to her and helped her up and saw tears on her face.

"How?" Julie asked still shocked.

"There was a shooting at his neighborhood and he was caught in the middle of the crossfire. We are still trying to digest the news." The boy said and Julie could hear that he was crying.

"Shit!" Julie muttered thinking in the black boy. Although they weren't really close, she considered him a friend as she did with all the other Ducks.

"I'm delivering the news to everyone out of the state." Charlie said before he dried more tears.

"Get me a plane ticket to Minnesota." Julie ordered her father, who arched an eyebrow with the request.

"Do it for tonight." Andrea told her husband as she realized that something was very bad. Paul nodded and took another phone to make a few phone calls, while his wife asked Mary to pack some clothes for Julie.

"You don't have to come, Jules." Charlie said trying to protest, but not having his heart on it.

"Hey, Captain, you are the one who told me that whenever I had a problem I could always find help on the others. How were your words: the Ducks always fly together?" Julie asked with a smile, as her father handed her a piece of paper with some detail: flight, gate, time of leaving and arrival to the state. She nodded with a smile.

"I'll convince Mom to let you stay here. If not, Connie will have you at her house." Charlie assured her before he added: "I have to go. I still need to call Ken, Russ, Luis and Dwayne. Fulton is calling Portman."

"See you tomorrow." Julie said before both hung up and went to her room to pack things.

"What happened?" Mary asked her when she entered and she was packing some clothes.

"Jesse died. It seems that he was caught in a shooting or something like that." Julie explained her, while finishing the task.

"I called Alex to take you to the Airport. Dad needs to stay here after your little revenge." Andrea informed Julie, having heard the news.

"I'll be either at Charlie's or Connie's. If not, I call you and tell you where. But it will be surely in one of their houses." Julie said writing down their numbers and giving it to her mom, who nodded. She took her wallet and put some of her money on it.

"Call me when you arrive, ok?" Andrea asked her while Alex arrived on his car and she went inside.

"What happened?" Alex asked his sister immediately

"One of the Ducks died today. I'll go to the funeral." Julie explained before she thanked him for taking her to the Airport.

"What happened at the Dinner? We heard shouts, curses and chaos. And we have the feeling you are the one behind it." He told her seriously.

"I repeated yesterday's revelations to everyone." Julie laughed before she told him what happened.

While Alex laughed, Julie thought about the Ducks and that she would see them again. Unfortunately, not under the best circumstances, but she really wanted to see them once more. They were her true friends and would support them as they had done it with her.

After all, the Ducks always stick together!


End file.
